Can You See Me Through My Tears?
by x Iris x
Summary: Suddenly she had a heart. And it turns out he didn't have to dig so deep after all. First he heard her sing, then he heard her cry and underneath those tears he found what was there all along. The reason for her distress. Extended summary & trailer inside
1. Introduction & Trailer

**Hey everyone! Okay, I'm super excited right now!! I'm excited because I'm starting a new story soon! YAY! The name of the story is 'Can You See Me Through My Tears?', and this is where you'll find it once chapter one is up! This post isn't necessarily a chapter, it's an introduction to the story. In here is the: **

**-summary**

**-extended summary**

**-rating**

**-pairing**

**-trailer**

**-author's note**

**-chance to review**

**-chance to favorite/alert**

**Okay, so thank you for clicking on my story. :) I'm almost as pumped for this story as I was about starting DBS! (The Diary Of A Broadway Star)**

**WHICH IS STILL GOING BY THE WAY! DON'T FORGET TO KEEP UP WITH DBS!**

**Here's the summary for this story that you've already read PLUS the pairing!**

Suddenly she had a heart. And it turns out he didn't have to dig so deep after all. First he heard her sing, then he heard her cry; and underneath those tears he found what was there all along. The reason for her distress. TROYPAY :)

**The following is an extended summary. It's a little poem/song that I came up with one night, and the inspiration is from this story. I hope you like it. :)**

Can you reach me when I'm way up high,

lift me up so I can touch the sky,

Can you catch me when I'm falling fast,

Will you take my hand and don't look back,

Can you find me when I'm in the dark,

in the place where I was from the start,

Can you look into my eyes and see,

all the heart and soul inside of me?

Can you see me under all these tears,

When I cry, can you see all my fears,

Can you touch me where I still can feel,

under all these wounds that just won't heal?

**The rating of this story is T for teen, due to probably some mild language and other things. But I won't tell you those things right now because I like to leave you guys with surprises!! Oh, I'm so excited, lol!!**

**The categories of this story are Drama/Romance/Angst?**

**A/N: I have high hopes for this story, and hope it becomes successful. So, PLEASE leave a review, put it on your alert list so you'll know when I posted the first chapter, and possibly favorite it! Another thing I have to get out…………………………………………………..**

**TROYPAY ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**DON'T READ THIS STORY IF YOU DON'T LIKE TROYPAY! I'M TELLING YOU NOW! I HATE PEOPLE WHO CLICK ON A STORY THAT'S A PAIRING THEY DON'T LIKE AND THEN THEY LEAVE A REVIEW SAYING HOW THEY HATE THAT PAIRING AND BLAH BLAH BLAH. PEOPLE, I WON'T PUT UP WITH THAT! JUST LEAVE NOW WHILE YOU CAN!**

…**..thank you.**

**Anyhow, the following is a trailer made on YouTube for this story. It wasn't made by me, it was made by DfyGrvt18 on youtube(dot)com. Props to her for the amazing trailer! I make videos on YouTube too (My name is jennamd615) but I asked her if she could make this for me because she is so good at them. :) So here's the link! _GO CHECK IT OUT NOW!_ THEN REVIEW:)**

link better work. :P If it doesn't PLEASE let me know. Ciao!


	2. Chapter One

**Hey everyone! I hope you all liked the introduction and the trailer for the story! If you haven't seen the trailer on youtube yet, it's not too late! The link is still on my profile under the latest update, so go check it out! Me and DfyGrvt18 have been getting really good feedback so far! (Well technically it's only DfyGrvt18, but I get excited when I see people's comments cause they're excited for my story!!) lol. So anyway, for those of you who have been waiting, which is obviously anybody who is reading RIGHT NOW, here's your first chapter!**

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Disclaimer- I do not own High School Musical!

_Can You See Me Through My Tears? Chapter 1_

Troy Bolton walked the hallways of East High. It was early, about seven o'clock, and school started at eight. It was empty……or was it?

He was taking his usual stroll around the school before anybody got there, coming up to the main hallway, when he heard something. It was a guitar. He stopped for a moment and listened to see where it was coming from. As he got closer, the music began getting louder, and clearer.

"_..I know what you're thinking, I can hear you…_

_everywhere…"_

It was a voice. It was a girl's voice, but he couldn't quite make out who it belonged to. He kept walking and listening, as the music just got louder. He was getting closer.

"_Some people say it'll never happen,_

_and we're just wasting time…"_

Soon he realized it was coming from the auditorium. He crept up to the door, not wanting to be seen. He knew that if he stood in the doorway that she'd see him, and he didn't want her to stop, so he stood against the wall next to the door.

"_But good things come when you least expect them,_

_so I don't really mind…"_

'Whoever that is, she sure sounds beautiful.' He thought to himself. He crossed his arms and rested against the wall that was behind him.

"_We'll be together, come whatever_

_not just staring at the stars_

_just remember_

_that no one else can tell us_

_who we are…"_

Troy closed his eyes now, his mind drifting away with the soft voice of the girl, and the strumming of the guitar.

"_We'll be together,_

_so don't ever stop_

_listening to your heart.._

'_cause I can't turn mine off.._

_woah-oh_

_I can't pretend_

_this is a rehearsal for the real thing_

_because it's not, and_

_I know we're young, but I can't help_

_feeling what I'm feeling,_

_and I won't stop…_

_Some things are meant to be_

_and they'll be there_

_when the time is right,_

_even though I know that,_

_I swear I wish it was tonight.."_

Troy heard a slight noise of people walking and talking. He looked around and saw that people were starting to come in and walk around, so he sunk himself lower to the ground, still listening to this mysterious voice, who didn't seem to notice that people were in the hallways.

"_We'll be together, come whatever_

_not just staring at the stars_

_just remember_

_that no one else can tell us_

_who we are.._

_We'll be together,_

_so don't ever stop_

_listening to your heart_

'_cause I can't turn mine off"_

Troy heard the final strum of the guitar and then all musical delightcame to an end. It was silent for a moment, and Troy took a glance inside the room. He stood up and got ready to step inside to reveal the mystery singer.

And then the bell rang.

Troy sighed, and looked around to see people in their hustle and bustle, leaving their lockers and getting to their classes. Before he did anything else though, he looked into the auditorium, to see if he could catch the girl he had heard singing. But just as he stepped through the doorway he saw the door on the other side of the room open and close, as if someone had just ran through it. He had just missed her. He sighed in disappointment and turned on his heel to go to his first class.


	3. Chapter Two

**Hey everyone, here's chapter two. I hope you're all enjoying it so far. If not, then I hope you'll stick around anyway because there will be a lot to come in later chapters. :)**

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Disclaimer- See chapter one

_Can You See Me Through My Tears?_

_Chapter Two_

_She held her left arm with her right hand, which she lifted for a moment to reveal the large red welt underneath. She was afraid it would throb, so she put the pressure on it again. She looked back up at her father, who still looked angry. She started stepping backward slowly to get away from him, which only made him step forward more. She started to breath heavier._

"_That's what you get for talkin' back to me!" he screamed. "You DON'T.." he stepped a little closer "talk.." and closer "BACK TO ME!" he screamed, startling her as she attempted to step back again, tripping over something on the floor and falling down. She looked up at his beat red face, and now she didn't care about the welt on her arm. She used both hands to try and crawl as far away from him as possible._

"_Get up." He spat, lifting her by the bad arm. She managed to pull her arm from his grip, but not for long. Now he grabbed her by both arms with his strong hands and shook her. She squealed a little, trying not to look him in the face. "What has gotten into you?" he shook her some more, tightening his grip before throwing her onto the bed. The look on her face got more and more afraid as he put his hands on her. She tried to fight back, but he was too strong. He gripped her by the wrists. Kicking him in the stomach wasn't doing any good; it just made the tears flow down her face from the frustration. She stopped trying to kick him and instead she bit his hand, which immediately triggered his reflexes to pull away._

"_You little bitch!" He shook his hand and put it to his mouth. She started breathing even heavier now as she tried to get off the bed and run. She couldn't though, because she had hurt her ankle when she fell, and all the rest of her muscles grew weak as her fear grew strong. She could only think of one thing to do… scream. Her tired little lungs wailed out, silencing once his hand collided with the side of her face. She stopped the screaming immediately; it wasn't like anybody could hear her anyway. She put her hand to her cheek, feeling the same sting she had felt on her arm. She looked at him with worried eyes. _

"_Shut up you little skank!" He shouted, pushing her down and pinning her shoulders to the bed. She inhaled and exhaled sharply through her nose while she pressed her lips together to keep herself from screaming again. He started ripping the clothes off of her and she soon felt his shaky hands roaming her body. She shut her eyes as her heart started beating a mile a minute. She faintly heard him grunt a few times before she suddenly felt a sharp pain below her stomach. She let out a whimpering cry—_

Sharpay bolted up in her bed, waking with a gasp. She breathed heavily, looking around the dark room. There was nobody there. She felt the tears streaming her face, her eyes burning. She wiped underneath her eyes and ran her fingers through her blonde hair. Then she got up out of the bed and slowly walked up to her bedroom door, which was cracked open. Across the hallway she could see her parents' room with the door fully open. Her mother was curled up in the bed, looking as exhausted as ever, and her father was sprawled out on his side, one arm hanging over the side of the bed and onto the floor. The ceiling fan was going. When she saw him start stirring in his sleep, she shut her door quietly. Why did she have to keep reliving this?

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**I know it was short, but trust me, they won't all be this short. Don't forget to review :)**


	4. Chapter Three

**Hey guys!! I hope you all like the story so far. :) Here is chapter three. Keep reviewing! You guys rock!**

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Disclaimer- See chapter ONE.. Basically nothing is mine :(

_Can You See Me Through My Tears?_

_Chapter Three_

Troy was at his locker, putting away the books he had taken home the night before. It was silent in the halls. Nobody was there yet. But he could hear a faint voice in his head. It was the girl he had heard singing a few days ago. He just couldn't seem to stop thinking about it, and he didn't know why. He smiled to himself a little. Then he heard something else; and this wasn't coming from his head. It was real.

He listened for a moment and shut his locker. He tried to follow the sound like he had done the first time. As he got closer, he knew for sure that it was a cry. A girl's cry. He was a little concerned, so he kept trying to find where it was coming from. Troy found himself tracing the same path he had the other day when he was trying to find the 'mystery singer'. His efforts had once again led him to the auditorium. This time he peeked his head in to see who it was. This time, he saw Sharpay. Sharpay, sitting on the edge of the stage, her head in her hands, crying.

"Sharpay?" said Troy softly as he stepped through the door. "Are you ok?"

Sharpay lifted her head as soon as she heard his voice. She attempted wiping her eyes and sniffling a little to cover up the fact that she was crying, but it didn't seem to work too well. "What are you doing here Troy?" she called out, her voice shaky. As he stepped closer to her, she looked down and in the other direction so he couldn't see her face.

"I was at my locker and I thought I heard somebody crying so.. I came to see who it was." said Troy.

"Oh, Troy Bolton to the rescue. Aren't you such a good guy." She mumbled sarcastically. Troy didn't say anything to that. He just looked down to the floor and tried to ignore it. Sharpay shot a glance at him and looked the other way again. She broke the silence with an unconvincing statement. "..I'm fine, Troy." She wiped her nose.

Troy looked back up at her again and took a few steps forward. "You don't look fine." he said. Sharpay rolled her eyes. "You wanna tell me what's wrong?"

"Not really." Sharpay said, still looking down at the floor. She sniffled.

"I understand," said Troy, "and if you want, I'll turn around and walk out of this auditorium right now." He took a few more steps forward. "But you're sitting here at almost seven o'clock in the morning, way before anybody else even gets here, and you're sitting by yourself, crying your eyes out." He saw her blink. "There has to be a reason for that." When she didn't say anything, he stepped close enough to her that he was by her side, and could hear her shaky breathing. Her eyes were still glossy. "Sharpay, I wanna help you." he spoke just as softly.

"Who says I need your help?" Sharpay replied, even softer than Troy had spoken.

Troy looked at her. Her hair was long and wavy, a little out of its place since she had been crying. Her outfit was perfect, just like any other day, and her eye makeup had run a little down her cheeks. …But she still didn't look so bad. He didn't say anything, he just put a hand on her arm.

"Troy, please let go." She said.

"Sharpay…"

"Troy, I said let go!" Sharpay raised her voice a little, raising the arm Troy had a hold of. She tried to rip it away from his hand, but his grip only grew tighter. "Ow! Troy.." Now was when she turned her head to face him. He was just looking at her, his eyes filled with concern and sincerity. She started breathing heavier. "Troy, let go!" she screamed again.

"Sshhhh.." He softly shushed her, now rubbing her arm. He hoped he could calm her down a little.

Sharpay started to cry again. She felt stinging under her sleeve. "Troy, please… no…" She let the tears run down her face, trying to pull her arm away. Troy looked up into her eyes, seeing she had started to cry again. She looked so weak. He looked back down at her arm. He slowly lifted her sleeve, hearing more sobbing sounds coming from Sharpay every time he lifted her sleeve a little higher. Once he could see her whole arm his eyes grew wide. He looked back up at Sharpay, who now had her head in the other direction again. Her eyes were shut tight, trying to hold back any more tears. She was breathing in and out from her mouth, still a little shaky.

There were red welts all up and down her arm, plus a few bruises. Troy gulped, his eyebrows furrowed. He gently touched Sharpay's sore arm, feeling the heat and roughness of the welts. Sharpay started to cry more. She winced at the feel of the sting; Troy touching her arm didn't make it any better. Troy stopped when he realized he was hurting Sharpay. He looked up at her. "Who did this to you?" Sharpay just shut her eyes and cried some more. "Sharpay…" Troy tried to get it out of her, but she was just crying and shaking her head. He sighed, "Okay you don't have to tell me who did it… but can you tell me why?"

Sharpay was now able to pull her arm away from Troy. She looked down at it and pressed it against her body. "Why do you care so much all of a sudden?"

"Why wouldn't I care Sharpay? One of my friends is sitting here crying in pain and I'm not gonna do anything about it? I don't think so."

"Friend?" Sharpay looked at him questioningly. "Really.." She rubbed her arm some more. "Just face it, I don't have any friends Troy."

Troy lifted Sharpay's chin. "So maybe we don't hang out all that much, but that doesn't mean I'm just gonna leave you here when you obviously need someone." Sharpay looked in his eyes. "Sure, you like to go for what you want, but you never did anything all that bad to me. I know you don't mean any harm towards anyone." he said.

Sharpay blinked and turned her head the other way. "So what.. does that mean I can all of a sudden trust you now?"

"I would never betray _anyone_." Troy said, softly smiling after. Sharpay looked at him. She sighed. Then she hopped down off the stage and stood facing Troy. He started to talk again but Sharpay cut him off when she threw herself into a hug. A little surprised but happy that she trusted him, Troy hugged her back, and he hugged her tight. Sharpay soon started to feel pain from the other areas she'd been hit, but she didn't care. She softly pulled away and said, "Sorry, I just really needed one of those." She giggled.

Troy smiled at her, "That's ok. I'm here for a hug any time." he said. He wanted so badly to ask her about what had happened to her, but he figured it would be better to wait for another time. She smiled at him softly, and then the bell rang.

"Uh, I better go clean myself up before anybody sees me like this." Sharpay said, getting ready to run off. She grabbed her books off the stage and headed toward the door. "Bye Troy."

Troy waved at Sharpay and watched her leave the auditorium. What if there wasn't another time?


	5. Chapter Four

**Hi everybody! Thanks again for reading my story! I'm glad that you like it so far, and I hope you'll all continue reading it too. :) I'm sorry for the long wait and the slow updating, so today I'm posting two chapters for you!**

Disclaimer- See chapter one…

_Can You See Me Through My Tears?_

_Chapter Four_

It was the same as any other night. They screamed at each other, she cried, he hit her, and she cried some more. Then she threw something at him, missed, and broke down in the middle of the floor as he stared at her from the doorway.

Sharpay could hear her mother wailing on the other side of the wall. She cried and screamed inaudible words at the same time, just like she always did. Sharpay sat on the floor against her bed as she listened to this, then she crawled on all fours over to the doorway of her bedroom and peeked her head out. As she sat there she could hear her father breathe easy in and out. She looked out and straight ahead to her parents' bedroom, where her mother sat, a mess and in tears, and her father stood in the doorway in front of another vase broken into pieces. She was surprised that her mom could find something new to throw at him and smash into pieces every night. She only ended up having to pick up the mess later and find something else to destroy.

Sharpay slightly closed the door when her father walked away, so she could still see through the crack. Her mother was sitting in front of her bed, hair a mess, crying hot tears and fidgeting with a pillow. She had stopped screaming but tears were still running down her face and she still breathed unsteadily. Once she pulled herself together Sharpay's mom got up and wiped her eyes. She walked out of the room, without cleaning up, and down the hallway with Sharpay's eyes following her. When Sharpay saw her go into the bathroom, she opened her door some more and stuck her head fully out, standing up and getting ready to step out of the room. Her dad had gone out the back door to who knows where, and so she didn't have to worry about him. She slowly walked down the hallway and saw that the bathroom door was halfway closed. She stood there and looked through the part that was open, watching her mother go through the medicine cabinet. She saw her take out her bottles of Barbiturates and Antidepressants, taking about three or four from each bottle. It was the same as any other night.

"Mom, don't do this!" Sharpay shouted, barging in on her mother and trying to take the pills away from her. She just pulled away from her and closed her hand tighter on the pills. "Give me the pills!" she attempted getting them from her mother's hands, "Mom, you need to stop. You can't keep doing this! It's not good for you!"

She just fought back more and screamed to her daughter, "Stop it Sharpay, I need them!" But Sharpay kept at it. "Do you know how stressful my life is?" she yelled, "You don't understand! I can barely get through every day… between stress at work, stress at home, you and your brother always complaining, your father…" she trailed off at the mentioning of her husband. "…You don't _know_ Sharpay, half the time I'm depressed, the other half I'm screaming my ass off… I just don't know what to do anymore!" she screamed, and then lowered her voice a little, "Look I _need_ these so just… LET GO." She struggled to pull her arms away from Sharpay.

Sharpay just looked at her, still gripping the bottles of pills from when she was trying to get them away from her mom. She didn't want to let it go. She knew her mom lived a horrible stressful life. Hell, she pretty much lived it right along side her from the things she's witnessed. But Sharpay was going through a lot too… and she didn't have to do drugs to get through every day. She was only looking out for her mom. After all, she didn't take care of herself properly, never mind her own children. Sharpay was just trying to do what needed to be done. Then right before her mother was about to yell at her again, she heard somebody moving outside, about to come in the house. "LET G—"

"Shit, Ryan's home!" Sharpay slammed the bathroom door on her mother. She ran into her parents' bedroom and tidied up the mess the best she could before her brother came in. She didn't want him to see the extent of their parents' fight, or their mother taking drugs. The funny thing was that Ryan and Sharpay were twins, neither older than the other, and yet Sharpay felt the need to protect Ryan from this situation. He didn't know about everything that went on in that house, and Sharpay would rather have kept it that way. She swept up the broken pieces of glass and threw the pillows on top of the bed. Then she walked out and shut the door behind her. She ran back into the bathroom, seeing her mother putting the bottles back into the cabinet. She knew that her mother had taken the pills anyway, but that wasn't her concern right now. She rolled her eyes as she looked at her mom. She was a mess, and it was obvious that something had gone on. Sharpay grabbed a hairbrush and handed it to her. As her mother was brushing her hair, she wet a washcloth and wiped the makeup off her face from when she had been crying. She couldn't believe that she was taking care of her mother as if _she_ was the child.

"Roll your sleeves down." She whispered to her, closing the door behind her as she stepped out into the hallway. Right as she got into the hallway, Ryan came in the back door and into the kitchen.

"Hey Shar!" Ryan smiled.

"Oh, hey!" she smiled back, pretending that she had been heading into her room. She went inside, shut the door and sat down on her bed. She took a breath and ran her fingers through her hair. Sharpay was trying to protect Ryan from these horrible situations, not only because he doesn't deserve to witness it, but also because she knew that if Ryan found out what his father was capable of, he would get upset and confront him. Ryan wouldn't know what he was getting himself into, just trying to protect his sister and mother, and he would end up getting hurt. She couldn't let that happen to her brother. Things were already chaotic enough in the Evans household.

A few minutes later, Sharpay heard her mother walking down the hallway. She opened the door and saw her slowly stumbling towards her bedroom. The drugs had taken their affect on her.

"Here, mom… let me help you." Sharpay said, taking her mother's arm and opening her bedroom door to help her in. Her mother looked up at her with hazy eyes, half closed. She spoke slowly and softly,

"I thought you were mad at me." She took an unsteady step forward, looking at her daughter.

Sharpay paused, "Well I don't want you to fall and hurt yourself." She led her mother into the room and sat her down on her bed. "Go ahead, lie down and rest your eyes." Within seconds the numbing drowsiness gave her a tingling sensation all over her body and she drifted off to sleep. Sharpay walked out of the room and closed the door.

She breathed out as she made her way towards the bathroom, carefully opening the door, avoiding the creaking squeaky noise. She stepped in, turned on the light and opened the medicine cabinet. The mirror image of her face disappeared with a movement of her hand. She stared at all the pill bottles as she scanned over the labels, and picked out two specific ones. She stared at her reflection once more before the light was no longer seen from the hall.

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**Ok, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please do review. YOU CANNOT RESIST THE MAGICAL LITTLE BUTTON:P But really… it's calling your name. Let me just let you know that I don't own anything here and I'm also not sure if my views are accurate on the effects of Sharpay's mother's pills.**


	6. Chapter Five

Disclaimer- See chapter one

_Can You See Me Through My Tears?_

_Chapter Five_

It was morning, and Troy wondered if Sharpay was in the auditorium. He wanted to talk to her; find out what was going on. Besides… it was boring being alone in the school before classes started anyway. He shut his locker and made his way toward the auditorium. It felt a little weird to him that he was tracing this path again without listening to music or the sound of crying; but he continued. Sure enough, she was there.

"Hey!" He walked down the long isle in between the theater chairs. Sharpay was sitting at the piano on stage, and she turned around to look at him. "Hi" she said.

Troy hopped up onto the stage. "What'cha doing?"

"Just workin' on a song." she replied. She turned her attention back to the piano, placed one hand on the keys and the other to flip pages in the music book.

"You write songs on piano? I didn't know that." he said.

She answered, "Mhm," and scanned her eyes quickly over the notes.

"You know, the other day, I heard someone in here singing a song I had never heard before." Troy said. "It was beautiful. But it was on guitar."

Sharpay looked up at him. She reached on the other side of the piano and pulled something out. "Oh I play guitar too." She said, turning around on the piano bench and positioning the guitar.

"Really?" Troy was kind of impressed. He smirked a little at her. She looked up at him.

"You wanna hear a little bit of the song I'm working on?" she asked him. He replied with a 'sure' and she tuned the instrument. The melody she started playing sounded familiar to him.

"_I'm not alone, even when we're apart_

_I feel you in the air, yeah_

_I'm not afraid, I know what you're thinking_

_I can hear you everywhere"_

Troy's eyebrows furrowed as he really listened to the song.

"_Some people say it'll never happen,_

_and we're just wasting time_

_but good things come when you least expect them_

_so I don't really mind…_

_We'll be together"_

"Oh my god."

Sharpay stopped singing and slowed down her strumming. "What?" She looked at him.

"Th-that's the same song I heard that one morning!" He said excitedly, pointing to the guitar. "Play some more."

Sharpay let it slip that Troy Bolton had just told her what to do, and she picked up where she left off in the song.

"_We'll be together, come whatever_

_not just staring at the stars_

_Just remember_

_that no one else can tell us_

_who we are…"_

Troy shut his eyes, feeling the same way he had that one morning when he first heard this song. He knew now for sure that the beautiful, remarkable, soothing voice he had in his head all week belonged to Sharpay Evans. He opened his eyes again and looked at Sharpay. She was almost a _part_ of the song. It was if she was _in_ it the way that she felt the music.

"_I can't pretend_

_that this is a rehearsal for the real thing_

_because it's not,_

_and, I know we're young,_

_but I can't help feeling what I'm feeling_

_and I won't stop…"_

He just let her sing and sing her heart out, not that she seemed to mind. Sharpay's soul was shining through with every word and every note. Every flick of her wrist made her look more beautiful.

Troy had never noticed how actually _pretty_ she was before. He had always knew that she carried herself well, but he never got the chance, or even bothered for that matter, to be this close to her when she was being completely natural. Her face was so serene, and every little inch of her was composed as she just put her all into the beautiful music she was making. Her eyes were chestnut brown and her golden hair so naturally flowed over her shoulders; each little flip and curl fitting to her every move. Her skin was fair, but it didn't look unhealthy on her. Her lips were the perfect shade of pink and the apples of her cheeks were a glowing bronze.

"_Oooh yeah…_

_I like what's happening to me_

_Oooh yeah…_

_nothing else to sayy ohh_

_Oooh yeah…_

_Somebody finally got to me_

_and carried me away_

_We'll be together, come whatever_

_not just staring at the stars_

_Just remember, _

_that no one else can tell us_

_who we are_

_We'll be together, so don't ever stop_

_listening to your heart_

'_Cause I can't turn mine off.._

_Woahwhoa.."_

The final strum of the guitar commenced and Troy snapped back to reality. "So that was you."

Sharpay smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

"It was really, _really_ beautiful, Sharpay. Did you really write that?"

She nodded her head and pulled the strap off of her shoulder. Troy spoke again,

"Wow, how do you find all the words to make something like that?" he asked.

Sharpay shrugged, "I guess I just…listen to the melody and pull out whatever is in my heart. Just everything I can think of, and spill it out onto paper. Then you gotta just put it in the right order and use what sounds right." She pursed her lips together.

"What feels right." Troy said with a serious expression.

Sharpay looked up at him and paused for a moment. She smiled, "Yeah… what feels right."

**o.0.o.0.o.0.o**

Troy walked out of the locker room after basketball practice. It was 5:00 p.m. As he was walking down the hall with a towel over his shoulder, he passed by the auditorium and briefly looked inside. He was surprised to see Sharpay sitting in there with her back facing him. Troy was a little confused because he remembered Sharpay going straight home after the last class of the day, so what was she doing here now? She wasn't moving, she wasn't singing, or playing the guitar. He wondered what was up.

Troy walked into the auditorium and set his sweaty towel on top of one of the theater seats. He walked over to the middle section. "Hey Sharpay, what are you doing here?" He got no answer from her. He walked a little closer to her and moved to see the side of her face. "Are you okay?" he asked, looking at her and awaiting a response. He got nothing once again. "Sharpay—"

She threw Troy's hand off of her shoulder and turned the opposite way, leaving him to be looking at her back again. Troy stepped back for a moment, brows furrowed. He slowly bent over and tried to get a good look at Sharpay's face. She seemed to be somewhere in between anxious and angry.

Troy spoke softly, "Um, Sharpay, I thought you left the school earlier today, and you don't have anything to really be here for… so why'd you come back?"

Sharpay clenched her jaw. "I'm allowed to come to the school anytime I want, Troy." she said, silence following. Troy blinked.

"I know… I know you are." he said, "But I was just wondering why you would want to come back here when you have nothing to do and you _could_ be home."

Troy stared at Sharpay's motionless self, who was only breathing in and out. Still, she said nothing. Her eyes started to gloss over.

"Sharpay…"

"Sharpay can you please talk to me?" Troy started to get a bit frustrated when even after this, she didn't answer him. She just stared out into the emptiness that was the auditorium. After a little while more, Troy stepped in and grabbed a hold of Sharpay's arm, which she stood up and pulled away from him. Troy then remembered how he had hurt Sharpay's arm the other morning. The memory of the red welts and fresh bruises on Sharpay's skin gave him a slight idea of what may be bothering her. What was happening to her?

"I'm sorry.." He apologized for having grabbed her arm so harshly. She just began slowly walking away from him with anger in her eyes. He ran after her and gently took hold of her by the waist, causing her to try and pry his fingers off of her. Not until she found that she was failing at this, did she turn and look Troy in the face. A single tear was ready to make its way down her cheek. Troy felt her breathing on his face. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." she said simply and attempted to walk away from him. Troy just grabbed her by the waist again and pulled her towards him. He asked her firmly, "Sharpay what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Troy!" She screamed out, trying to get out of his grip. "Let _go_ of me!—"

"Listen I know something's wrong Sharpay you're not convincing me here." Troy turned Sharpay's petite body so she was facing him. She slowed her squirming. "PLEASE tell me why you're here."

Sharpay met the chair with a clank and cried into her hands. As she sobbed Troy asked her again.

"Sharpay, talk to me!—"

"**NO**!" She shrieked, her howl echoing throughout the large room.

"SHARPAY!—"

"NO GET AWAY FROM ME TROY YOU'RE JUST MAKING IT WORSE!!"

Troy moved closer to touch her and she flipped out… "NO STOP! STOP TROY! STOP!" She fought back, pushing Troy away and getting in any smack that she could. She just started crying harder.

"HEY!" Troy tried to stop the kicking and screaming. He tried to get a hold of Sharpay's hands, dodging every strike she made at him. Every now and then he'd feel a smack on the side of his face. "SHARPAY!"

Sharpay screamed bloody murder one final time before giving way and falling into Troy's arms, tears freely pouring down her face. Troy was surprised that nobody had heard such screaming and came running into the auditorium. They were all alone; and after all of this, Troy was still completely confused.

He let Sharpay calm down a bit more. She was mumbling muffled words as her face was buried in Troy's shirt.

"Remember that you can trust me." said Troy, lightly rubbing Sharpay's back. "What's the matter?"

Sharpay sniffled and sat up in her chair. She breathed, "…It's my dad." Then, she felt a sudden pain in her arm and rubbed it. "Ow.." she whispered.

Troy looked down at her arm and lightly pulled up Sharpay's sleeve. He saw a few scars and a lot of new welts and cuts. He touched them. The wounds were hot and her arm was shaky and throbbing. Troy gulped. "Did he do this to you?"

"No." Sharpay automatically answered. She shut her eyes tight and felt the light touch of Troy's fingers on her skin. Soon it didn't hurt anymore, but it was soothing. "……Yes."

Troy looked up from Sharpay's arm to her open eyes looking back at him. She sighed and slightly nodded to confirm that it was true.

"He hits you?" Troy asked incredulously. Sharpay nodded, a few shameful tears falling from her eyes. "Sharpay that's awful!" Troy said with concern in his eyes.

"I know," Sharpay whispered, "But there's nothing I can do about it."

"What do you mean there's nothing you can do about it?" Troy protested.

Sharpay raised her voice, "There's nothing I can do, Troy! He's so much stronger than me and if I get anybody else involved things will just get worse." She shook her head.

"Does Ryan know?"

"No." said Sharpay, "And you _can't_ tell him, do you hear me?" Troy nodded, "I haven't told Ryan what our dad does because he doesn't deserve it. He's never done anything wrong. …And if he ever tried to confront my dad… _forget about it_!"

"Well what have you done that's so bad? I doubt this guy has any good reason to smack you around." Troy said.

"I dunno…" Sharpay shook her head as she looked to the floor, "I just get in his way I guess. He's always had a thing for coming after me. Whenever there was an accident, or Ryan would do something wrong, dad would always blame _me_. Besides… I can't fight back." She looked up at him.

Troy blinked and lifted his hand. He lightly brushed Sharpay's cheek and wiped away the remaining tears. She smiled softly. Her skin was so soft, he almost didn't want to bring his hand back down… but he did.

"You _promise_ me you won't tell anybody about this?" Sharpay straightened her neck.

"I swear." Troy drew a cross over his heart with his finger and looked at Sharpay sincerely.

"Good."

"…Has he ever done anything else to you?" Troy asked Sharpay.

Sharpay looked out to the stage. "No." She subtly crossed her middle over her index finger in between her thigh and the chair. "…No."

Troy stayed quiet for a moment and looked at Sharpay sitting next to him. He couldn't believe the conversation he was having at that very moment. He reached over and hugged Sharpay. It was almost 6:00.

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**Sorry it was so long. I hope you liked this chapter! Of course, I do not own "We'll Be Together" by Ashley Tisdale or anything else in this chapter. Hope you enjoyed… continue to read my stories… and PLEASE REVIEW:)**


	7. Chapter Six

**Hi everybody. :) I hope you liked chapter five. Thank you for your reviews and I really hope you all like this next chapter. And by the way I'm really sorry for the long wait. My internet was down, and my dad didn't put much effort into fixing it. I'm really sorry… :(**

Disclaimer- See Chapter One…

_Can You See Me Through My Tears?_

_Chapter Six_

"Hey Troy, Where are we practicing after school today? Outside?" Chad asked Troy as he walked up to his locker.

"Well you guys can go outside, but um, I have other things planned today." he replied, putting a few books away.

Chad leaned against the lockers, "Oh yeah?" Chad smirked, "What'ya got a hot date?"

"Not exactly." Said Troy, "But I'm planning on hanging out with… Sharpay after school."

Chad crossed his arms and knit his eyebrows together, "Sharpay?"

Troy didn't look his friend in the eye, but kept rummaging in his locker. "Uh-huh."

"Sharpay Evans?"

"That's… the only Sharpay _I_ know." he said.

Chad stayed silent for a moment. Troy was just standing there now, looking at his open locker. "Sharpay Evans, the _Ice Princess_?"

"_Yes_, Chad!" Troy raised his voice and turned to face him. He lowered his voice once again before continuing, "She's not as bad as you think she is, okay? She's just a normal person…with a few problems."

"But since when did you start talking to her more?" Chad asked.

"I don't know, just recently." Troy replied. "She seems kinda lonely so you know, I'd like to… get to know her a little better."

Chad laughed slightly, "You are such a nice guy, Troy." Troy shut his locker. "…Too nice."

"I know. I try." Troy shot his friend a playful grin and turned on his heel. Chad followed and they ambled down the hall to meet the rest of their friends.

------------

Chad, Jason, Zeke, and a few more of their friends were gathered together in a circle, hanging out during free period. Troy had gone to the bathroom, and Chad had a little news to spread.

"Hey guys, get this." He got their attention, "Troy is starting to hang out with _Sharpay Evans_."

"What?" a few of them said in unison, all of them looking somewhat confused.

"It's true!" said Chad, "According to Troy, she's just a regular person and he wants to get to know her better." he shrugged slightly and looked at the faces around him. They were all somewhere in between surprised and confused, but they soon got over it. Chad continued, "And apparently she's something special enough for him to miss practice and hang out with her today after school." Chad nodded. The boys' eyes grew a little wider. "I know.. I told him he was too nice." All the boys looked around at each other with similar facial expressions. They all somewhat thought he was crazy, but wouldn't make it their own business. Then they wondered where Troy had gone.

------------

Troy came out of the boys' bathroom and took a left towards the auditorium. After all, it _was free period_; he was allowed to move around in the halls. Troy sneaked up to the auditorium and slipped inside. He saw Sharpay sitting on the end of the stage and swinging her feet, so he decided to join her. He plopped himself down next to her, startling her a little, so he apologized. "Hey… sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." he said.

"It's okay," Sharpay responded, smiling lightly. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I took a break from the guys to visit the little boys' room," Sharpay giggled a little, "and I decided I would come and see how you're doing." Troy nodded, looking at Sharpay who was still swinging her feet. He laid his hand on her bare knee. "Are you okay?" He asked seriously. She stopped swinging her legs and looked him in the eyes. She nodded, and he smiled at her.

"Hey Shar, did mom say anything about—Oh… Hello Troy."

Troy quickly moved his hand away from Sharpay's leg. The two of them looked up behind them to see Ryan, standing there with a few paint cans in his hand. He didn't realize it, but he had sort of a hateful look on his face. When he realized that Troy was with Sharpay, his tone quickly changed. Ryan didn't necessarily _hate_ Troy, but he always had some sort of a rivalry with him, since Troy was the jock of the school.

"Hey Ryan." Troy said, smiling a little at him. He turned his head back to Sharpay, who had just shot her brother a 'be nice' look. She smiled at Troy. Troy gazed into her eyes as he rubbed her arm up and down lightly in a comforting way. He remembered how much pain she had been in. Sharpay looked down at Troy's hand on her arm. She watched him, as if in a daze, as he ran his fingers up and down her bare skin. It felt nice. When she looked back up at him, he was smiling gently. Then he looked back at Ryan and hopped off the stage. "I'll see you later Sharpay." He said, "Later Ryan!" He waved as he made his way out of the auditorium. Sharpay breathed in and out, staring at the door as it swung, and long after it went still.

------------

It was about 3:15 and school had ended. Sharpay had taken her time at her locker, shut it, and walked off down the hall with her purse on her arm. As she pranced down the hallway and on her way out to the parking lot, with every click of her heel, she hummed to herself another song she was working on.

"I don't know what I'm doing…

I say the wrong things half the time.

I'm only human, not anything you can define.

I'm rushing, day to day, to find my way

to where I'm going.

Don't try to find me…"

Sharpay squealed as she suddenly felt herself being snatched off of her feet. She gasped, scared for her life, when the person turned her body around by the waist so she was facing them. It was Troy. He was grinning at her by the fact that he had successfully scared her out of her wits.

"Oh my god!" She called out, smacking Troy on the arm. "Why did you do that?!" She took one step away from him and put both hands on either side of her forehead. She had to catch her breath and take in what had just happened.

"I'm sorry," Troy said, "But I'm gonna have to kidnap you."

"What?"

With this, Troy playfully scooped Sharpay off the ground and carried her in his arms. She shrieked. "Troy, what are you doing?!"

"I told you, I'm kidnapping you." He said as he carried her through the parking lot and over to a shiny dark blue car. He opened the passenger door and put Sharpay down inside. At this, Sharpay giggled a little. "Troy, you're taking me hostage!"

"That's right." he said, getting into the car next to Sharpay. He started the car and began to back up out of the parking spot. "Cover your eyes." he said. Sharpay turned and gave him a confused look. "…Cover your eyes!" Troy repeated, picking up one of Sharpay's hands to help her cover her own eyes.

"Okay, okay!" Said Sharpay, slapping Troy's hand away and covering her eyes with both of her hands.

"Just trust me." Said Troy, looking over at Sharpay. "And no peeking!"

"Yes, sir!" Sharpay giggled. "Where are you taking me anyway?"

"To China." Troy joked. There was silence from Sharpay. "Do you really think I'm gonna tell you where we're going?" he said, eyes on the road.

"I guess not." Sharpay smiled, eyes still covered. She slightly sighed. "So how was your day Mr. Bolton?"

"My day was just fine, thank you very much Ms. Evans." Troy replied. He smirked. "Except for the fact that I'm failing math horribly."

"Oh I'm doing pretty well in math, actually." said Sharpay.

"NO PEEKING!" Troy called out, seeing that Sharpay had started to split apart her fingers and tried to sneak a look through the windshield.

"I'msorryI'msorry!" Sharpay shut her eyes and clasped her hands tighter than before. "…So do you want me to tutor you sometime?"

Troy rested one arm on the steering wheel. "Tutor me huh? What are you trying to imply, Ms. Evans?" He smirked once again.

"In Math, you little pervert!" Sharpay said.

"Suuuuureee Sharpay."

"Alright Troy do you want me to help you or not?" She asked seriously.

"Okay okay I'm sorry. Yes Sharpay, I'd like it if you helped me with my math. But let me just warn you now; I'm hopeless." He looked over at Sharpay and back on the road.

"Well. I've been told that I work miracles." She smirked, "So we'll figure out something." she said playfully. Troy let out a chuckle.

------------

"Alright, you can open your eyes." Troy said, standing behind Sharpay with his hands on either side of her waist.

Sharpay lifted her hands off of her eyes and opened them slowly. A smile crept across her face from one ear to the other as she stared out in front of her at a big park. There were tons of trees with pink and white flowers sprouting on them, the colorful petals scattered on the ground. Some gracefully fell from the branches still. The grass covering the ground was as green as ever, and there were wide open spaces, for not many people were at the park.

"Wow.." Sharpay dragged her soft voice along. She brought her arms to her sides and looked around her still. Troy moved to her side and looked at her with a smile. "What do you think?" He asked. She looked at him and smiled widely. "It's… _so_ pretty." She took a step forward.

Troy looked around as well and his eyes landed on Sharpay. "I've known about this for a while but I don't come here often. _Nobody_ comes here often. But I thought it was nice so I figured it would be a good place to just… talk."

Sharpay slowly nodded her head. She turned slightly to look at Troy.

"You wanna walk around?" he asked.

"Okay" she replied, smiling lightly. They began walking through the park, on a long path with trees lining up on either side of them.

"I can't believe people don't know about this place." said Sharpay, "It's so beautiful."

"I know," Troy agreed, "but that's okay… it can be our own little secret." He turned his head to look at Sharpay and smiled widely. She smiled too, but kept her eyes on the ground. Troy took a slight breath, "So um… are you sure you're okay?"

Sharpay took a short pause, "Things could be worse. It's on-and-off really."

"What do you mean?"

She lifted her head, "One day he'll be fine, just minding his own business, and another he'll be up in my space looking for trouble."

"Your dad you mean.." Troy frowned slightly.

"Yeah.." Sharpay bent down and picked up a flower that had fallen from a tree above. She put it up to her nose to take in the scent. "You know I wish there was something I could do. If I scream at him he just gets angrier. I feel like nothing can bring him to his senses." She frowned now too.

"Is he an alcoholic?" Troy asked.

Sharpay shook her head, "Not really.." she said, "Sometimes you'll find him on the couch with a beer in his hand but it's not like that's the cause of our problems."

Troy nodded his head and then took a pause. "Why do you think he never hits Ryan?" he asked.

"…I don't know. I guess he figures he can get more satisfaction out of hitting the people who he has total control over." She said, "…Women."

"That's horrible." Troy shook his head slightly from side to side.

Sharpay lifted her head and turned to Troy. The ends of her lips turned up slightly. "Glad to know you're on my side." she said.

He looked her in the eyes and smiled as well, "Well actually I was going to come over later on, to _watch_ your dad hit you… and then I was gonna sit down and have a beer with him… to get some pointers." He nodded seriously.

Sharpay took a moment, and then she let out an uncertain laugh. She looked at Troy hopingly.

"I'm kidding." he chuckled, "Don't worry."

Sharpay took a breath and moved her eyes to the ground, and then back to look at Troy.

"Of course I'm on your side."

She smiled again. Troy's eyes sparkled as the light glow from the sun reflected off of them. He looked down at Sharpay's arm. "How do people not question the bruises on your arms?"

Sharpay looked down at her own arm. "Sometimes they do," she said, "but I can usually get away with saying I fell or my partner dropped me at dance practice."

"You take dance outside of school?" Troy asked.

"Boy you don't know me at all, do you Mr. Bolton?" she smirked playfully.

Troy laughed, embarrassed. He looked down to the ground. "Well… that's why I'm trying to get to know you better."

There was silence for a moment, and Sharpay nodded slightly. She looked at Troy, "I'd like that."

"Me too." he said.

Troy and Sharpay walked around a little longer until they had gone in a circle. They were back by Troy's car, so they walked out to the parking lot. "I should get going home before Ryan sends out a search party to find me." As Sharpay was about to open the passenger door for herself to get in, Troy looked out in front of him. "Hey Sharpay…"

Sharpay stopped what she was doing and looked up at Troy over the top of the car.

"Before we go, why don't we sit and watch the sunset?" He looked at Sharpay, who looked up to the setting sun. She smiled. "Alright."

Troy stepped to the front of his vehicle and patted the hood of the car, gesturing for Sharpay to hop on.

She looked at him seriously. "You want me to sit… on the hood of your car… in this?" She pointed to her mini skirt.

"Oh come on, I keep my car clean." He looked at her, and she still had the most serious look on her face. She wasn't budging.

Troy sighed. "Alright…" he said, heading over to the trunk of his car, "I have a blanket in the back." He grabbed a thin red blanket that he kept in the trunk of his car, shook it out and laid it down on the hood. Sharpay smiled in satisfaction. He went around to the side where she was standing and lifted her up by the waist. He sat her up on top of his car and ran around to the other side to sit beside her. Then he sighed and put his arms behind his head.

Sharpay bent her knees up and laid her head back on the windshield like Troy had. She made herself comfortable and smiled. "You know, I've never done anything like this." She turned her head to the left.

"What, watch the sunset?"

"Nope.." she said to him, "and especially not on the roof of a car." she giggled.

Troy let out a chuckle and smiled at her inexperience. "Then you should really hang out with me more." he said.

Sharpay nodded and looked back up to the sky. Swirls of purple, pink and orange spread themselves out across the sky as if somebody had taken a paintbrush to a canvas. The half circle shaped sun now burned a heat red rather than yellow. Everything just fit perfectly although nothing really had a place. "It's really beautiful."

Troy breathed out as he looked at the sky. He turned his head and looked at the girl lying next to him. "I know."


	8. Blog CH 7 COMING SOON!

**I NEED TO VENT.** **I'm sorry just can you pleeeease read what I have to say. I know it's a little long (a little?), but honestly I can't really talk to anybody else about this type of thing. Who better than other crazed hsm fans:) …**

Guys, it is 7:15 p.m. and as of this moment, I think that I have just gone HSM crazy yet again, out of nowhere. It's really hard to explain my thoughts and feelings, but I was just looking up any info I could find about the concert tour for High School Musical 2 and I just got a rush of the "old" obsession. You know, how we were with the first movie. I don't know what it is!

It's just, I didn't get much info on the second tour, just a lot of stuff about the first one. And seeing all the information, show times, and things like that just brought back memories from LAST YEAR. Can you believe that a _whole year_ has gone by since the first concert? I barely can. I can remember how insanely happy I was that I was going. To me, it felt like I had just fallen in love with the movie when, really it had been a long time. It felt like it was going to be forever before the second movie came out. And look at all of us now! High School Musical 2 premiered in _August_! It's been two months already, and it's almost as if we're like… over it. All of those feelings of anticipation are over and done with. Now we're just waiting for any further news on High School Musical 3! Imagine how quickly that will come and we won't even realize it.

Shit, by the time I'm going mad over the third movie I'm going to be 16. How scary is that. All I'm hoping is that I will still love the movies then. There's a good chance that I'll "grow out of" the obsession. And yes, I will be honest, sometimes I feel a little embarrassed that I'm 15 and I still love, no I'm sorry, OBSESS over a silly little Disney Channel movie like High School Musical. But it's who I am, and the other part of me doesn't care what other people think because I really do love it. High School Musical gives me something to hope for. It's like what I think about when I need to escape. _Because_ it's so innocent and perfect. Everybody needs something like that, I think. :)

So, as far as my peculiar feelings that are hard to explain, I just feel like those fantasizing thoughts have returned from when I would be walking down the hall in school and imagine in my head that I saw Sharpay prancing down the hall with her purse swinging from her arm. When I would be in gym class and I would imagine that Troy Bolton is dribbling a basketball twenty feet away from me. I know it sounds kind of creepy, but things like that would sometimes get me through the day. A few minutes ago, if I closed my eyes I could imagine that I was on the set of the first movie. When the cast was still so young, and no rumors were spread around. No _official_ Zanessa existed… nobody had a huge ego…all of them were just as wrapped up in the movie as us fans were. Zac even said himself that he couldn't get the songs out of his head.

I actually didn't realize until this moment how sad it is… how everything has changed. Now, the gang must be _so_ sick of hearing about High School Musical. (At least we know for sure that Zac is.) Now, they're all doing their own thing and we barely see them all together, and _HAPPY_. Zac and Ashley seem to barely hang out anymore, ever since he and Vanessa finally admitted that they're together. Besides the occasional Ashley shopping candids, nobody is getting attention but Zac and Vanessa. And truthfully, I feel kind of bad for them! I mean, if you look at all of those candid photos, Zac and Vanessa are rarely ever smiling. Well hey, I would be pretty annoyed too if I had cameras flashing in my face every second of my life. They can't even spend time together as a couple without people all around them, asking them questions and exposing them in every-day activities. Vanessa's nude photo scandal is a whole other story. I won't even get into that.

I don't know. I just love the feeling I get when I pretend that I actually go to East High. How wonderful would life be if the least of your worries consisted of a science nerd stealing your musical from you? Despite the few drops of drama here and there, life in HSM is… pretty… perfect. There's so much more to say about my spontaneous craze from the past but, boy have I been talking for a long time! This was more like a blog, never mind venting! lol I'm so sorry! Well I really hope that you didn't just skip over this. Please leave any feelings or responses or ANYTHING in a review. :D Thanks. Like I said, I needed to vent.

**Oh and by the way, I realize that I'm a horrible updater. Seriously, If I were you guys, I would hate me. lol. I'm really sorry, but school is crazy this year. I never have time to write. And when I do have time, I draw a blank! So I hope you can forgive me. This must be like the millionth time that I'm apologizing. But I have no homework this weekend. YAY! And I'm working on the next chapter of CYSM right after I post this. Thanks guys, you rock. :) Please review if you'd like.**


	9. Chapter Seven

**Heyy everyone :) Wow, thanks for staying so patient with me. I'm back with another chapter for you, but I can't promise it'll be great. I haven't written this story in a while so I hope you all like it. Read and let me know in a review!! Also, don't forget to keep checking my profile for any updates or new posters/trailers. If you haven't checked out my "Guilty Pleasures" fic then you should, and VERY SOON:D Lol well I think that's about it. Enjoyyy.**

Disclaimer: You already know I don't own it.

_Can You See Me Through My Tears?_

_Chapter Seven_

"Hey mom, how are you?" Sharpay asked her mother as she walked into the house after school.

"I'm alright I guess; not great. You know the deal." she replied, looking down at a sink of dirty dishes.

"Where is he?" She lowered her voice.

"In the backyard." Sharpay went up to the kitchen window as a response to her mother pointing towards it. She pulled aside the curtains and peeked through the glass to see her father mowing the lawn. Before walking out of the kitchen she caringly rubbed her mother's shoulders and received a kiss on the cheek. Then she headed to the bathroom.

In a closed room, quiet and safe, Sharpay blocked everything out for the moment. The bright bathroom light illuminated her face. She looked at her reflection in the mirror; examining every imperfect feature; turning her head to see the differences in lighting. She suddenly remembered something and revealed the medicine cabinet beneath the wall mirror. First thing she saw was the empty spot where her mom's pills used to be. Her mom must not have found out that she took them. Sharpay sighed slightly and closed the cabinet again.

The toilet flushed behind the wooden door and Sharpay didn't hear the footsteps as she emerged from the room. She opened the door and turned her head only to jump backward at the sudden sight of her father. Her eyes moved quickly from his dirty work boots up to his dark eyes and she faked a smile. "Hi dad." She continued to walk past him and into Ryan's bedroom, not feeling his eyes on her with each step.

The door gently swung open and Sharpay's heels dug into Ryan's green carpet. "Hey Shar" he greeted her from his computer chair. She returned the hello while taking off her shoes and walking over to lie on his bed.

"How was your day?"

"Ryan you ask me this every day, and _every day_ you spend almost fully with me at school so I don't know why you ask." She smirked.

"I know I spend every day with you but I still wanna know how you're doing. Maybe there are things running through your head that you _haven't _told me. Those are the things I wanna hear when I ask you."

"Okay" she concurred through a smile. "But there really isn't anything."

Ryan never ripped his eyes from the computer screen "Just remember that if there ever is anything you wanna tell me, don't be afraid." Until he said, "You're my sister and I love you."

They exchanged smiles and suddenly heard a noise coming from inside. Sharpay got up and ran. When she got out into the hallway she could tell her parents were fighting. Ryan stuck his head out the door "What's going on?"

Sharpay turned her head back to her brother and shooed him, "Just stay in your room, I'll find out." She whispered. Then she made her way to the kitchen and saw a plate broken on the floor. Her mother cowering beneath her father's grasp is what she found in front of her.

Sharpay interfered on the screaming and yelling, trying to push apart her raging parents. "Stop!" her father looked her in the eye. "Let her go! Take your hands off of her" she screamed.

With one hand he grabbed his daughter by the hair and pushed her stumbling to the side. "You stay out of this!" He caused his wife to cry out even worse with fear and helplessness. When Sharpay looked up from the kitchen floor she saw her mother with tired eyes looking at her. She frowned and a small tear ran down her face. She got up and ran back into the hallway, wiping her face vigorously. She went into her own room this time, but didn't escape her brother.

"What happened?" He closed the door behind him as he stepped into his sister's room.

Sharpay turned to the side as she pulled her hair up in a ponytail. "They're just arguing about something. They kind of just yelled at me before I got to say anything so I ran back to my room." Another scream came from outside that door.

"Are you sure? That sounds like a pretty intense argument maybe I should go out there-"

"NO!" Ryan stopped in his tracks and turned to Sharpay with one hand on the door. She breathed out, "I mean, you shouldn't get in the middle of it. I'm sure it'll blow over don't worry."

Ryan seemed a little concerned. "You're sure?"

"Yeah! It's really not as bad as it sounds. Trust me." She brushed it off and pretended to do something else, so Ryan shrugged with a frown and went back into his own room. Once he was gone Sharpay put a hand to her throbbing head and felt the pain from when her dad threw her down. Not only was she hurting, but she was pissed. Sharpay Evans had a reputation for having beautiful flowing blonde hair, after all.

(A few hours later)

Her head jerked up with the sound of her father busting through her bedroom door.

"What the fuck is the matter with you?" he slammed the door behind him and walked closer to Sharpay.

She gulped, "I'm sorry!- "

"You know better than to meddle in your parents' business; don't give me 'I'm sorry'" he spat.

Sharpay slowly crawled backward on her bed. "I-I heard a noise from my room so I came out to see what it was.."

He glowered over her steadily with tight fists.

"Besides, you were hurting her!" she added.

"Do you want me to hurt _you_?!" He stepped closer.

"No!"

"Huh?!"

Sharpay tried to get away by moving herself over and off the bed, but she wasn't quick enough. She could feel him trying to grab her and she attempted fighting back.

"You're a little whore, just like your mother." He gritted his teeth, struggling with her.

"Don't call her that!" she cried.

"But it's the truth. And you're gonna grow up to be just like her..a good for nothing, whiney piece of shit!"

Sharpay's face was hot with frustration and her eyes were teary. "Well she wouldn't be so miserable if it wasn't for you! You're a… stupid… prick!!"

He stopped fighting with her for a moment and loosened his grip. First he just looked at her. Then as soon as he laid a hand on her again she stiffened up.

_Please no, don't do this_. She felt his grip getting tighter on her arms. She tried to wiggle beneath it but wasn't getting anywhere.

"Sharpay."

She wouldn't look him in the eye so he slapped her upside the head. "I'm a prick, huh?"

She pursed her lips together and let her hair fall in her face as she looked down. Still wasn't looking at him, and now her face was throbbing.

"Look at me when I talk to you damnit! ..Is that what you called me?"

She mumbled under her breath...

"Huh?!"

"No!" She screamed. It was a lie. And there was no use telling it because he was there two minutes ago to hear her say it.

He laughed. "Ha, you think you're hot shit smart mouth? You think you can talk to your father that way and get away with it? I don't think so." He threw her little body off of the bed and onto the floor. She landed hard with a thump. Holding back a cry, she rubbed her back in pain. He kicked her once lightly in the side. "Lay down." He got down on the floor and kneeled over her, one knee on either side.

He pinned her wrists to the floor. "I deserve some respect from you, Sharpay. I never get what I deserve from this relationship."

"What relationship?"

"Don't get smart with me. Its time you give me what I want." He started fiddling with the waistline on her skirt. "No, don't!" She squealed.

"Just shut up, and this way I won't have to hurt you!" He scolded her and she knew to keep her mouth shut. She didn't know what else to do.

He had pulled her skirt down to her thighs when the door swung open.

"Ryan, no! Get out!" Sharpay screamed, for the sake of her brother.

Ryan's eyes grew wide, "What's going on?"

"Can't you see this is something between me and your sister? It's none of your business now get out!" He called, still sitting on Sharpay.

"No!" Ryan ran to his sister, "Get off of her!" He shoved his father as hard as he could to get him off of Sharpay. He took her by the arm and stood her up, holding her close. "Did he hurt you?" he asked sweetly. Sharpay shook her head with tears running down her cheeks.

"So the pansy's got some balls!" He said from the floor. Ryan started to get really angry. He didn't know what got a hold of him but his eyes narrowed and he built up the courage to stand up to his father.

He stood up in front of Ryan with confidence and smirked at his enraged face. "Ooo what're you gonna do now. Huh?" He stepped closer to him, "Nothing. Because your mother raised you to be a little girl!"

And with a strike, he was down. Ryan punched him square in the face and he didn't even see it coming. He heard a gasp come from Sharpay behind him and spent no more than a moment lingering over his father in defeat. He left the room and took Sharpay with him.

"Ryan I can't believe you did that. I… I didn't know you had it in you!" Sharpay was still shaken up.

Ryan shook his head. "Neither did I. Sharpay… What was he doing to you?" His voice suddenly got a little lower.

Sharpay sighed. "I've hoped that I could keep this from you but I guess I can't anymore." She looked to Ryan and then to the floor.

"Wh… What do you mean Sharpay? This isn't the first time he's tried to hurt you?" She shook her head no in shame. "Oh god how could I have not known?" He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight.

Sharpay sniffled. "Ryan… you just punched out dad. What are we gonna do?"

"I dunno I just… I wasn't thinking about anything else I was so worried. This came out of nowhere for me…"

"Well we better think of something. And quick. Who knows how long before he's conscious again."

Ryan took a breath and looked his sister in the eye. "I want you to leave this house, and drive. Go somewhere where you'll be safe. I don't care where." He saw her start to shake her head slowly with fear. "I just don't want him to hurt you again."

"But what about you?" She asked.

"Don't worry about me. I'll… come up with a plan."

"Are you sure Ry? I'm worried about you."

"Yes, just go. I won't let you stick around in a situation like this. I love you too much. Go. Now." He gave her a little push and she headed to the back door. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks and turned around to run towards her room. Ryan was a little confused.

"What, I need my wardrobe!" She said as she scuttled in and out of her bedroom, coming back out with a small Louis Vuitton suitcase.

Ryan chuckled at his sister's typical behavior. He watched as she headed for the door. She turned around with the door half open and looked at him with sad eyes, "…I love you Ry." and she blew him a kiss before heading out to her car. She threw her bag in the passenger seat and turned the key in the ignition. The next minute she was driving as fast as she could without breaking the speed limit… and she knew exactly where she was going.

Ryan gulped as he slowly opened Sharpay's bedroom door. He peeked his head in and saw his father, still unconscious on the floor. He quickly decided on the smartest thing he could think of and started dragging the man across the floor by his arms. He dragged him out of the room, into the hallway, and all the way into the bathroom. Laying him back down, he carefully stood up straight and backed out of the bathroom, closing the door and locking it. The Evans bathroom was strange; the door locked from the outside, not the inside. Who would've known it would be useful some day. Ryan went to search for the phone number for the police department. He couldn't believe he was doing this…

-------

**Alright well I hope you liked it. Was it too short? If it was, I'm sorry. I already know what's happening in the next chapter so that will help in updating faster lol. I just thought this was a good place to end it. Nice little cliffhanger, huh? Well again, I'm sorry I took so long, and I can't believe I'm posting this at 2:00 in the morning, but here it is. :D Tomorrow I'll work on my other stories. This weekend I'm dedicating to you guys. Goodnight.**


	10. Important AN

A/N: **Hey everyone… (Although I'm not too sure who everyone is anymore) I'd just like to say that I don't blame you if you've given up on me or if you're angry that I haven't updated. I think it's pretty obvious that I am probably **_**the**_** worst updater. Ever. However, I hope you all know that I do love to write. Well…. I used to anyway. Now that I look back at everything I've written, I realize how much I truly do love these stories… and how much I love Troy and Sharpay together. **

**I am truly sorry that I left you all hanging. To be completely honest, I don't even know who I'm speaking to at the moment. There probably isn't anyone left. All the great, true Troypay/High School Musical Fans have probably moved on like I've been starting to. And it kind of makes me sad. **

**I rarely ever come onto anymore, so, who am I to even talk? I don't know who's still around… who still reads and/or writes great Troypay fanfics… who appreciates them like we all used to….**

**So I have a proposition. All of you who were, and are still fans of my stories, (like **_**The Diary Of A Broadway Star**_**, **_**Can You See Me Through My Tears**_**, and **_**Guilty Pleasures**_**) who forgive me and would still like for me to continue writing them, I hope that you will review this note and let me know that there's even a reason worth writing for. **

**I also know that throughout the time that I haven't been writing, a few new people here and there have been reading and reviewing my stories, and putting me on their favorites/alert list, hoping that I update soon. I'm sorry to all of you who I have disappointed.**

**So everybody who still comes around this site and would care even the slightest bit that I come back and continue writing, **_**please, please**_** just send me a review. Anything. It doesn't matter what you say. I just want to know if I should even bother.**

**I miss this site.**

**And I realize that now, I'm making **_**way**_** too big of a deal out of this. And I should probably stop my babbling. Sorry guys.**

**Just… let me know. (:**

**And if it ends up that not many people care, and if I don't end up continuing to write here… thanks to all of you who have ever supported me and/or read my stories and enjoyed them. Nothing has ever felt better than when somebody enjoyed reading something that I enjoyed writing. Thank you to everybody who has been incredibly patient with me also. I've had a lot of fun writing. (:**

Sincerely, Iris.


	11. Chapter Eight

**Hey everyone, thank you all so much for the supportive reviews. I completely didn't expect to get so many! I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter I posted. I know I left you with sort of a cliffhanger, (although you could probably figure out what was going to happen if you thought about it) so I won't leave you hanging any longer. :) Finally, please read and review.**

Disclaimer: Don't own it!

_Can You See Me Through My Tears?_

_Chapter Eight_

The white lines on the road flew by. Sharpay kept shifting her eyes from the windshield to the rearview mirror, cleaning up her face as best she could to look presentable. After a few minutes of hopelessly rubbing at—and smudging—her black eyeliner, she gave up and decided that it didn't matter anyway because she would probably be crying again in another few minutes. Besides, there was no way that she could have looked any worse than she felt.

A bottomless, frosty chill covered her body from what felt like the pit of her stomach. She wondered if it was actually coming from her heart. That's probably how her classmates would think of it. She felt nauseous and dizzy; overwhelmed with embarrassment and violation; weakness. She was in pain, but somehow she could barely feel it. There was this numbness that seemed to swallow her whole. Her mind was barely capable of letting in any other thoughts but the ones she thought of now…the memories and nightmares that were haunting her.

_Knock knock _on the front door. First there was no answer. She knocked again, harder this time. She waited and after a few moments, the door opened.

"Sharpay?"

She lifted her head and looked at him. No words came to her right away.

"Sharpay what's wrong? Are you alright?"

She took a breath, hesitant and shameful. "…Troy, Can I stay with you for a little while?" Her voice was shaky, and barely audible.

Troy seemed concerned. "Yeah of course, come in."

"Mom, my friend is here we're going upstairs!" He yelled to his mother who was somewhere in the house. Sharpay heard a woman calling "Alright" from a distance and she followed Troy up the staircase.

They went into Troy's room and he closed the door behind them. "Here, sit down." He patted a spot on the bed and Sharpay sat. "Tell me what's up."

Sharpay took a breath. She tried to figure out where to start. "Ryan punched my dad." _Yea, that's a good spot_.

Troy's eyes widened. "_Ryan?!_ Your brother?"

"Yes!" she sighed in frustration. Nobody ever took her brother seriously. "My brother."

"What happened?"

"He found him trying to hurt me and I guess the adrenaline got the best of him." She paused, "Dad also called him a pansy." Troy couldn't help but stifle a laugh. She looked up at him.

"Sorry. But wait, your dad was trying to hurt you again? What was he doing?"

Sharpay gulped. "He had me on the floor…"

She avoided saying anything else, but Troy leaned his head closer as if to say '_and…'_

"… I think he was going to rape me." She said this quietly and then shifted her eyes up to meet Troy's.

He had to let that sink in. "…What?" he said. Now he moved a little closer to her.

Sharpay nodded her head. She almost started to cry just thinking about it.

"Oh my god, Sharpay…I…I don't know what to say."

"It's okay—"

"No it's not; now I can see why Ryan punched out your dad. I would've done the same thing. Especially since he didn't know anything was happening in the first place."

"Yeah," she said, "He said he wasn't sure what else to do at the moment. He didn't wanna see me hurt."

"Well what happened? …Did he like, _knock him out_?"

Sharpay exhaled and slightly shook her head. "Dad was unconscious when I left the house."

"Wow."

"So we panicked and tried to think of a plan. Ryan told me to go as far away from the house as possible until further notice." She sighed, "So I came here. …I don't know what to do Troy. I'm scared. For Ryan, for me…"

"—I know, I understand Sharpay." Troy leaned closer to her and hugged her tight. "You're safe here. Did you tell Ryan where you were going?"

The tired-eyed blonde shook her head.

"Ok well still, stay here for as long as you need."

"What are you gonna tell your mom?"

"What are you talking about, you're helping me with math, right?" He winked his famous Bolton wink at Sharpay. She chuckled a little. "Besides, do you think you'll have to stay more than a day?"

She shrugged. "I don't know what's going to happen, Troy."

**. . . . .**

This was a situation Ryan was very unfamiliar with. Everything was so foreign and overwhelming; the police cars—the flashing lights—the feeling of apprehension. He couldn't keep his eyes, or his mind for that matter, in one place.

"You were the only stable witness, is this true?" asked the officer.

"Yes—well my mother was here as well but she was twice as afraid and, I think, barely conscious." His voice quavered.

"And what happened exactly?"

"I had no idea what was going on. I walked into Sharpay's bedroom and she was on the floor with my father on top of her. She looked like she was struggling. Half of her clothes were ripped off. She yelled at me to get out, but I couldn't stand to look at her face, the way she was crying! And I wasn't sure what else to do then to pull him off of her and knock him out."

The police officer scribbled a few notes onto a pad of paper and nodded. "I see. Now, did he try to hurt _you_?"

"No; not physically. I could tell that he was trying to hurt my sister though. And he was speaking horribly to me."

"Is anybody else hurt in any way? Where exactly was your mother throughout all of this?"

"I… I barely even got a good glance at her until after I threw the punch. But she had been cowering on the floor in the corner of our kitchen. She looks like she's been beaten up too." Ryan hung his head, "My poor mother…"

"And that's all?" asked the man.

With a slight shake of his head, Ryan replied, "All that I can recover at the moment, sir. This is all so overwhelming for me—"

"We need to know everything that you saw and everything that happened here and now. So if you would please—"

"No, that's all. Officer." Said Ryan. He gulped.

"Do you know where your sister is?"

He sighed, "No. The last thing I said to her was to run anywhere that wasn't here. She took off. Didn't say where she was headed."

"Alright Ryan. Thank you for all your help. Be sure to call us if she comes around. You know the number."

Ryan nodded.

"…And if she hasn't returned in about 48 hours… please, you have to let us know."

The policeman slid his pen behind his ear and gathered the rest of the officers. After a few moments of huddling outside the house, Ryan watched as they all got into their cars and drove away…with his father handcuffed in the backseat. He closed the kitchen curtains and leaned against the sink. As he turned his head to the side he found a portable phone on the counter and reached for it. He looked at it, contemplating for a moment, and put it back down. As he made his way to his room, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Sharpay's number.


End file.
